Engaging students in work experience

Enabling students to apply their theoretical knowledge to real life workplace-based experiences is a key method facilitating the development of employability skills

Value of experience

Candidates with prior work experience are more likely to have developed technical skills, knowledge and generic employability skills.1

From an employer's perspective, prior work experience is highly influential when deciding which candidate to hire.2 A third of The Times Top 100 employers who took part in research for High Fliers indicated that students with no work experience would be unlikely to be successful in their graduate recruitment processes.3

The lack of appropriately skilled applicants has also been highlighted as an issue – for example, almost 40% of UK employers reported difficulties recruiting staff with relevant STEM skills.4

The fact that so many employers are highlighting these skills gaps further underlines the importance of work experience to address this.

Barriers faced

Research has indicated that some students face barriers to participation in programmes of work experience, such as money, study pressures, family commitments, paid work commitments and time constraints.5 Mature students, students with lower UCAS scores and students whose parents have not been to university have been shown to have additional barriers.6

As programmes of work experience have become an integral part of employers' recruitment practices,7 students who are unable to take opportunities outside their local area, cannot afford to do a placement year, or are unable to participate in periods of work experience during student vacation periods (for example, due to childcare issues) have a reduced chance of gaining valuable employability skills and experiences.

The outcome of this is that those potentially most in need of work experience, and the networking opportunities associated with these experiences, are those least likely to get them.8

As discussed in the Bridge Group report, enabling social mobility is now a key priority of higher education institutions (HEIs). Their careers services can play a critical role to help them achieve this and there are many excellent examples of good practice.9

Solutions

There is a need to create opportunities for engagement in activities, and to actively support students who cannot participate in a placement year or activities outside the curriculum.10

Curriculum-based experiences include:

• short and long-term work placements
• mentor support
• postgraduate progression taster sessions
• work shadowing
• volunteering
• field work
• networking events
• enterprise activities
• employer visits
• employer led projects
• employer based simulations.11

By embedding these activities within the curriculum, barriers to participation will be reduced.

HEIs therefore need to ensure that there are a range of practical employability experiences available to suit the needs of a vastly divergent student population. They also need to ensure that they provide practical support, such as financial assistance to enable students to overcome the barriers to participation.

Only by doing these things can they improve an individual's life experiences, maximise opportunities and support the graduate employability agenda.12

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of HECSU/Prospects

Notes

1. Employability skill development in work-integrated learning: Barriers and best practice, Studies in Higher Education, Studies in Higher Education, 2014; What are the benefits of a quality placement?, National Centre for University and Business, 2011.
2. Student Engagement and Graduate Level Employability: An Empirical Investigation Into The Impact Of A Work Placement Year, 2012; Classifying university employability strategies: three case studies and implications for practice and research,  Journal of Education and Work, 2015.
3. The Graduate Labour Market in 2018, High Fliers, 2018.
4. Global Life Sciences Outlook. Moving forward with Cautious Optimism, Deloitte, 2016; The Right Combination: Education and Skills Survey 2016, CBI/Pearson, 2016.
5. Breaking down the barriers to Student Opportunities and Youth Social Action, Universities UK and NUS, 2015.
6. Learning From Futuretrack: Studying and Living at home, Department for Business Innovation and Skills, 2014.
7. High Fliers, 2018.
8. Inspiring Policy: Graduate Outcomes and Social Mobility, The Bridge Group, 2016.
9. Ibid.
10.  Universities UK and NUS, 2015.
11.  Ibid; Proceedings of the 3rd Biannual Australian Collaborative Education Network National Conference, Australian Collaborative Education Network, 2010.
12. Universities UK and NUS, 2015.

Written by

Nikki Abbott

Employability adviser

Sheffield Hallam University